
News Link • Criminal Justice System
The DOJ Just Torpedoed Its Own Case Against Roger Ver -- It's Time to Drop It
• https://thefreethoughtproject.comOn April 7, 2025, the Department of Justice quietly issued a sweeping policy shift that could—and should—obliterate its case against Roger Ver. Tucked into a 4-page memo titled "Ending Regulation By Prosecution," the DOJ made a stunning admission: prosecuting individuals for violating unclarified crypto regulations is no longer acceptable. In fact, it's now against federal policy.
"The Department of Justice is not a digital assets regulator... The Justice Department will no longer pursue litigation or enforcement actions that have the effect of superimposing regulatory frameworks on digital assets."
— DOJ Deputy Attorney General Memo, April 7, 2025
Let that sink in.
For over a decade, federal agencies—under both blue and red banners—have targeted crypto pioneers like Roger Ver with vague, backdated tax rules and regulatory grey zones. Ver, a key early adopter and evangelist of Bitcoin, renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2014 and attempted to follow every legal protocol in doing so. But now, more than 10 years later, the U.S. government is seeking to extradite him over alleged tax liabilities—before the IRS even provided clear digital asset guidance.
But according to the DOJ's own memo, that sort of persecution is now explicitly out of bounds.
1 Comments in Response to The DOJ Just Torpedoed Its Own Case Against Roger Ver -- It's Time to Drop It
IRS Rules were clear after 25 March 2014 (IRS Notice 2014-21), and Ver himself referred to the Notice on 14 Oct 2015. Ver's tax pros worked on his 2014 expat return in 2015-2016, not before Notice. 2014 crypto tax rules were clear then, but not as mild as Ver desired. Pre-2014 lack of IRS clarity was thus no factor for Roger Ver. Don't be fooled about that. https://solarireport.substack.com/p/the-prosecution-of-roger-ver-a-lawfare/comments